Trump's Trials - U.S. soybean farmers urge Trump to ease tariffs on China to protect their industry

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Soybean farmers are urging the White House to abandon its tariffs on China to protect their industry. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and you're listening to Trump's terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible. It's going to be a very aggressive first hundred days of the new Congress. An unpredictable, transformative next four years. The United States is going to take off like a rocket ship. Each episode we bring you NPR's coverage of President Trump acting on his own terms. And that means sometimes doing things that no American president has tried before. NPR is covering it all in stories

like the one you are about to hear right after this. I'm Leila Faldon. Now China consumes more than half of all soybeans exported from the U.S. So this trade war is hitting America's soybean industry hard. Caleb Ragland is watching the tariffs and retaliatory tariffs between the U. So this trade war is hitting America's soybean industry hard. Caleb Ragland is watching the tariffs and retaliatory tariffs between the US and China from his farm in Magnolia, Kentucky where he grows soybeans and serves as president of the American Soybean Association.

Good morning, Caleb. Thanks for waking up early with us. Good morning. Happy to be here. So the US has 145% forty five percent tariffs on Chinese goods China 135 percent on American goods. How did these impact soybean farmers like you and the industry at large? 125 percent. Sorry, I correct myself there. Well, it's hard to keep up at the current rate. Yeah But we're we're very concerned as you mentioned China is the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans internationally. We export right at 50 percent of all soybeans produced in the U.S.

and China purchased 52 percent of U.S. exports last year. So if you see a soybean field, every fourth row of soybeans went to China last year. So what does this mean for farmers then? Well we have a precedent from the first trade war. At that time, one out of three rows went to China. And when the dust has settled, we have lost about 9% of all US production and exports to China that's been replaced by our competitors in South America, mainly Brazil. China has even invested majorly in infrastructure there, in ports, in bridges,

in rail, in roads, and we're likely not to get that back. Our grave concern is we could permanently lose another big chunk of our export market that we are dependent on for our production. And if we don't have that demand internationally, we're gonna have to find more uses here domestically and the result will be at least in the short term that will lose price due to low demand and high supply. And the US farm economy is in a tough spot and we just don't have any room for error right now. I mean can you weather this trade war? I mean can your farm survive it? Can other people's farms survive it? Well we're very concerned quite frankly

last year we're told that there were four times more defaults on farm loans due to the weak farm economy and working capital is low, interest rates are higher, cost of production are at record highs, inflation has wreaked havoc on everything that we use, whether it be equipment or whether it be chemicals, whether it be seed, because everybody down the supply chain that takes care of us, their costs are higher too. So it's a tough spot. We desperately need strong demand for our soybeans so we can receive a good price. So we're needing opportunities both domestically and abroad now and not just in the future.

Yeah. I mean, you know, you have been very public about your support for the president. You voted for him three times, but you've also, I'm listening to you talk about the pain that you felt during the first administration with the tariffs that were put then kept during the Biden administration. Now these steeper tariffs, which he promised on the campaign trail. So did you not vote for these tariffs in some ways?

Well, we knew that that was a possibility. What we also know is that President Trump Well, we knew that that was a possibility. What we also know is that President Trump put a phase one trade deal in place with China during the first administration. And we also had precedent that we didn't have much trade activity in the past four years as well. So we had to make a decision based on a lot of different factors. But I believe President Trump and his administration have the opportunity here to get some major trade deals done

And and we hope that's what they're doing Because we must have trade as I've said and That is what our farmers are dependent on we are great at producing soybeans and other ag products as well But soybeans are the number one ag export. So we're kind of at the tip of the spear here. What do you want the president to do if you could ask him or tell him what to do in this moment and what farmers need? We are actively in discussions with the administration and we need trade and we need trade deals and that that's the bottom line. And I believe the president wants to do that.

I think he cares about our country, but we must have trade and we need opportunities now and our- Do you want him to reverse these tariffs? We want him to get the best deal possible. If that means tariffs for short term, fine, but we can't be in a tariff war for years on end because we'll die before then Kayla Bragg land is a soybean farmer in Magnolia, Kentucky and president of the American Soybean Association. Thank you so much for your time You're welcome

Before we wrap up a reminder you can find more coverage of the incoming Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news, with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to

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